Budget Free Agent Options

The Warriors have three obvious ways of improving their roster this off-season: the draft, the trade exception, and free agency. Whoever we get in the draft is unlikely to make an immediate contribution. As for the trade exception, my money is still on Cohan letting it expire. That leaves us with free agency — and specifically our mid-level exception of around $6 mil or so — to find legitimate NBA players to round out the roster. Here’s an early list of potential targets.

Because the Warriors will be over the cap — either through actual contract or contract holds — we can dismiss signing any blue chip free agents like Antawn Jamison, Josh Smith or Emeka Okafor. We’re left looking for a player who will take a chunk of our mid-level exception, likely to be between $2-4 mil if Cohan wants to stay under the luxury tax threshold. Here are 10 names to consider:

1. Josh Childress (Restricted) – Childress was an explosive scorer and active in all other areas of the game off the bench for the Hawks last year. The Warriors sorely missed someone capable of producing reliable offense when the starters hit the bench. Josh is long and fast, making him a perfect match for Nellie’s system, whether or not Nellie is around to run it. The Hawks probably will match offers, but a $5-6 mil deal to Childress might prove enough to give the Hawks second thoughts since they’re likely to hand out an even bigger deal to Josh Smith.

2. Dorell Wright (Restricted) – If the Heat end up with both Marion and Beasley, it’s hard to see a place for Wright. Mullin reportedly has been a fan since Wright entered the league, so I wouldn’t be shocked at all to see the Ws make a run at him. His 19 point, 18 rebound explosion in Oakland last December certainly demonstrated what he could be capable of doing in a free flowing system. Consistency has been an issue in the past, but coming off the bench behind Jackson would provide Wright a low-pressure opportunity to thrive. And while a Wright / Wright frontcourt in the future might barely break 400 pounds combined, it would be awfully long, fast, and fun to watch. Miami might think twice about matching a deal in the $3-4 mil range.

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3. Chris Duhon (Unrestricted) – It looks as if the Warriors are unlikely to find a back-up point guard in the draft this year. Duhon may hold out to find a team that will let him start, but the Warriors’ back-up spot would provide ample opportunity for Chris to demonstrate his range of basketball skills. While he’s no Steve Nash, he’s not a shoot-first guard (due largely to his lousy offensive skills). He’s a good rebounder for his size and knows how to run a team. For 20-25 minutes a night, the Warriors would benefit greatly from his services. He earned over $3 mil last, year so he’ll likely be looking for a deal starting around $4 mil. That’s a bit steep for a limited player, but the Warriors may not have few other options.

4. Shaun Livingston (Restricted) – Sometimes risks pay off, sometimes they don’t. Livingston will be a huge risk for whatever team signs him, but has the most potential of any free agent in the mid-level price range. At 6-7, he would be the perfect size to play next to Monta Ellis in the backcourt. He has fantastic court vision, likes to run, and showed signs of rounding out his offensive game before his horrific injury two seasons ago. It’s unclear how close to 100% of his former self he is after rehab — and whether he’s still at risk for similar injuries — but a cheap three year deal structured with a player opt-out (should he prove himself healthy) might be enough to lure him away from the Clippers. Would the Clippers match? Hard to say right now, but their draft day moves should tell us a bit about who they see manning the point in the years to come.
5. Juan Carlos Navarro (Restricted) – Another Warrior killer on a team unlikely to utilize his services. Faced with a glut of guards, Memphis will likely let Navarro walk or trade Lowry (or possibly both). Navarro is much more of a combo guard than a true point, but could run the offense for the Warriors for limited stretches. More importantly, he’s fast and has a great mid-range jump shot. The Warriors need another reliable scorer and he’d be ideal. Given his league-minimum salary last year, he’ll likely be looking for a big pay day. Some team will likely throw $3-4 million at him. I’d be cautious at that number, but would certainly stay in the mix should the market for his services turn out to be softer than expected.
6. Beno Udrih (Unrestricted) – Tossed out like trash by the Spurs, who I’m sure now wish hat they had kept him, Udrih likely earned himself a big pay day with solid play for the Kings to close the season. The Kings don’t have a ton of depth a point guard following the Bibby trade, so they might be willing to overpay a bit for his services. Like Navarro, it’s unclear whether he’s a true point guard, but he has the speed and scoring ability that the Warriors’ system demands. A $4-5 mil deal isn’t out of the question, although I doubt Cohan would risk that type of offer (and the luxury tax) for a back-up to Baron.

7. Ryan Gomes (Restricted) – One of the young pieces the Timberwolves acquired in the KG deal, Gomes is another stereotypical Nellie player. Long, active, a nice mix of skills and a nose for the basket. He won’t be a game changer in the league, but has proven over the past two years that he can be a reliable scorer and a good “glue” player to help do the dirty work. The Wolves would be smart to keep him, but a $2-3 mil deal might give them pause. Having played in two relatively structured systems (Boston and Minnsota), Gomes could surprise a lot of people when given a chance to run free.

8. Craig Smith (Restricted) – For those looking for a big body to bang down low, they don’t get any bigger (well, wider) than Craig Smith. Although he’d have to lose some weight to run with the Warriors, he has very quick feet and great moves around the basket. He’s not quite Milsap or Turiaf (likely to resign with their respective teams), but could be that type of player for us. And at 6-7, he also might be sufficiently undersized for Nellie to play him. Again, as with Gomes, a $2-3 mil deal seems about right.
9. Gerald Green (Unrestricted) – It’s hard to believe Green went from the slam dunk contest to out of the league in a matter of months. Tremendous hype surrounded him when Boston drafted him, but he hasn’t been able to live up to the lofty expectations. He’s undisciplined but young, and at 6-8 he has the type of body that would fit well in a backcourt with Ellis. He’s high risk / high reward, but the Warriors and their collection of cast-offs could provide the perfect place for Green to redeem himself.
10. Carlos Arroyo (Unrestricted) – Arroyo has never managed to capture the magic of his Olympic performances in the NBA. He fell out of favor in Orlando and will finally get his wish this off-season of a new home. Again, he’s not a true pass-first point guard, but is better than anyone else the Warriors have to back up Davis. He certainly has sufficient swagger to be a good match for the team and his penetration skills would be put to good use. He earned $4 mil last year and is unlikely to fetch that on the open market. The Warriors might be able to get him at a discount at around $1.5-2.5 mil depending on how other teams spent their free agent cash.

The take-away from this list? If the Warriors are looking for a true impact player, he’ll have to come either from the trade-exception or moving someone currently on our roster. That said, there are plenty of free agents within the Warriors price range who would be nice additions to the bench. Mullin proved tight-fisted with Cohan’s money last season when our own free agents were involved. It’ll be interesting to see whether he adopts a similar cautious approach this summer after likely cutting some serious checks for Ellis and Biedrins.

Adam Lauridsen

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Regarding Nellie playing two bigs at the same time. I think its about whether he likes his talent not a steadfast rule – “No two bigs”. Here are the stats for Nellie’s playoff games his last 5 years at Dallas. Seems to be almost always 2 bigs on the court:

Note: Its a sort in NBA.com for players (Forwards) above 6′-7″. For instance, I did not include Walt Williams time. I wanted regular season, but the site would only give me playoffs. Probably more meaningful anyway.

alberto

The fact Nelson is back it should not implies that we should give him players that apparently he will use like Mat Barnes, Croshere, and MP. Indeed we should not waste players positions with those players that we already know what they could produce.

Even worse, if Nelson advise that AB and BW should be traded then the Warriors should ignore his advise.

We are already screwed by having him to coach for this season, it will even worse if we do not get our draft picks for this year or the future. We should draft for the best players even if they are not ready to Nelson’s eyes for this year.

Get big guys that have a chance to help the Warriors: I believe we have pretty good chance to get Alexander, Lowe, and Marreese Speights, or Anthony Randolph with our 14th pick on the draft.

I hope we can get New York draft pick to get either: Jerryd Bayless, Russell Westbrook, or Danilo Gallinari.

petaluman

Introducing a slight variation of the “Nelson is scared of bigs” theory. Now he only likes bigs that shoot 3s.

I don’t know him any better than the rest of you. Still, I believe he would like to run a classic high post offense. There’s nothing radical or revolutionary about it. You just need a big who can shoot the mid-range jumper. Virtually all of the top bigs can do this, but the only 3 shooters that come to mind are Nowitzki and Odom.

I think Andris and Brandan will play together if either develops a mid-range game. I’m hoping Wright can get that going over the summer. Here’s DraftExpress on BW from Feb07:

“Beyond 12 feet is where Wright’s range appears to abruptly end, though, shooting just 56% from the free throw line due to his extremely ugly looking shooting mechanics– elbow flailing out to the side and everything. Considering his slender frame, which can surely take more weight, but might always remain on the lanky side, it will be important for him to develop a real skill-set facing the basket from the perimeter. His long arms make it difficult for him to handle the ball in tight, half-court situations, and his terrible shooting mechanics need serious work before he’ll be considered any type of threat to stretch the defense.”

I think my horse died after drinking some bad Koolaid.

Chris Cohan

Pbob gives us Dirk and a whole lot of Avery Johnson work to defend Fair Nellie by.

Tool II.

Chris Cohan

Nelson has never been hand-cuffed by “classic” range games before and if you don’t see what Wright’s got, you’re a KoolAid-Drunk apologist looknig for the next worthless angle.

Were you one of the yahoo’s yammering about all the points this run and gun juggernaut racks up?

PS,

DraftExpress enjoys the bouquet and bite of a nice Perissodactyla endocrinological “witness.”

On occasion.

They like Kosta Koufos for the Dubs.
Seriously, they really do.

monsta

Kosta to Kosta, it’s a play-by-play man’s dream.

Is Matt Costa available?

petaluman

#49,
glad to hear you get lucky now and then

Chris Cohan

Poor Petaluman. Puts up a lame post and whines about not getting lucky with no one pointing out how dumb it was.

First, the news part. Don Nelson is returning to coach the Warriors next season. He informed the Warriors of his decision two weeks ago.

————

I wonder why Ws didn’t reveal to the public that Nelson is coming back !!

http://www.clush.com/dir Ozfraud

I like Gerald Green! Both are fast and can finish a fast break. This would be the perfect marriage. I Dig

Tired

#39
Dr. John: Nice reference to Clifford Ray, the center who replaced Nate Thurmond and took the Ws to a championship. He was a tough guy inside. He also couldn’t shoot a lick but could pass, rebound, block shots and generally make life miserable for other bigs inside. Guess he wouldn’t “work” for Nellie, in more ways than one. He has done a great job with Perkins.

Can the Ws coach a big? WOULD they bother to coach a big?

#45 Two big men! Quite a concept. How about some backup for them too. The Lakers have 3 and backups.

Nellie is on a life quest to prove he can beat the system. In a strange way I wish he could. As I have said before, I would like to see it. He has the Koolaid crowd believing it. He has one more chance.

#47
Oracle, don’t worry, we know where you are at. Good response to the tool.

#48 Otis

Only in the world of Small Ball does what you say not make sense. One more year…

#51 Pbob

Check the minutes for Dirk. Besides, those are playoff numbers, and not very impressive at that. If Nellie could find another Dirk….

#53

Dream on. Nellie will NEVER play a traditional high post offense. Why should he spoil his perfect record now? He always says he needs a big man. (30 odd years IS always) What he means is that he needs a Dirk, or two, or three. He has one more year. What he does with it may or may not reflect what he has done in the past if he wants to go for broke. This is a one shot deal. Could be interesting, or not.

Draft Express from Feb o7: Who cares? geez…

#52 Alberto

You make too much sense. Don’t count on it.

CC: You are the man!

Pbob20

Tired

Like I said, I wanted regular season stats but couldn’t get them, but I think playoffs show what a coach really likes (even though its over shorter time). You are right that one of the bigs is Dirk (probably the perfect Nellie Big, correct?). But having Dirk would make more sense for no other big player. Why would he play a big next to him? Nellie likes smaller fast line ups, but apparently he is not driven by a 0-1 big rule.

The Oracle

I wouldn’t call Dirk a big. It’s not just about height, it’s where they play and their game. Dirk is a 7′ tall SF. He’s a very tall perimeter player. And he shoots the 3.

If you go back over 30 years of Nelson coaching, you will find it impossible to find any true 7′ post player that scored 20 ppg for coach Nelson besides one year of Ewing. Again, Dirk is 7′, but he’s not a low post player by any means. He had Patrick Ewing, in a team he took over for one year, that scored 20 ppg. And the first thing he wanted to do was trade him.

I don’t understand why some posters can’t accept reality. Coach Nelson doesn’t want to play 2 traditional bigs. At time for the W’s, he doesn’t want to play any with AH at Center. Why argue the obvious? Didn’t you see POB, Kosta, BW sitting on the bench for a year or two?

What I mean by traditional is guys near 7′ that play most of the game near the rim on both sides of the court. Guys that typically don’t shoot from any distance. AB. Shaq. Yao, Duncan, Boozer, West, Gasol, KG, fill in the traditional big men of your choice. Typically the center has little to no range and the PF can take it a little farther from the basket at times (but doesn’t live on the 3 pt line like AH and/or Dirk).

I think we can reasonably argue about whether Nelson’s one to zero big system is a better system than the tradtional 2 big more 1/2 court system. But I don’t think it’s reasonable to assume he wants 2 bigs, as there is no evidence of that in 30+ years. And no evidence of it in the past years.

Nelson will be pushing Mullin to trade either AB or BW before the start of the season, so he doesn’t have to endure another year of questions as to why they aren’t both playing together. Because they won’t. Because he doesn’t want two bigs if neither can shoot the 3. Watch and learn.

AndrewN

Oracle,

I agree with your view, but sure hope that are wrong for next season regarding BW and AB playing together.

Now that Nelson is back, the question again is: will Mullin go for broke this season for Nelson last attempt or build for long term?

I hope not the first part, because I don’t think it will get us anywhere while compromising long term development. That means if we draft or trade, I hope we get player(s) that we think is/are good, not just good for Nelson’s system.

For discussion sake, please do not evaluate a player for Nelson’s system or whether Nelson will play him next year or not. The Ws future does not connect to Nelson future after this coming year. Look beyond this season.

Efren

‘Look beyond this season’. I say, the W’s must. The W’s doesn’t owe Nelson to care for Nelsons last hoorah, grand exit or whatever you call it.

Nelson is just a part of a dream and disdain and of not so colorful past. I hope Robert Rowell knows better by now.

wfan1

Some of the comments on this blog are disgusting.

petaluman

Tired and CC,
Unbelievably weak responses. You didn’t even seem to notice the main premise of my post. Don’t you know what high post means?

Oracle,
Most of the bigs you mention have a mid-range game. That’s all I’m asking for.

Chris Cohan

Petaluman still wishes he had something to say.

Al I hear is

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

petaluman

Chris,
You’re all alone. That sound you hear is you

Chris Cohan

Well shouldn’t you not be trying to talk back, then?
Oh… you say you care deeply about what we think of your moronic Nellie/”high post” post?

Post, indeed.

Please take your seat, class is in session.

Tired

#67
Maybe you would like to enlighten us further on your concept of a “classic high post offense.”

Nelson has never run such an offense and never will. If I am wrong about that, prove it. I will grant you that he has TALKED about it many times over the years.

#63

My description of Dirk as a “big” includes my tongue firmly in cheek, as you probably figured out.

#66

You are so right.

#62

Nellie doesn’t play 0-1 bigs all the time. That is clear, but it is getting to the point where he is doing it more and more. This last season was the worst ever, and I go back a lot of years with him. He even wanted to play Weber by himself out there. Pathetic. Petaluman, is that what you call a high post offense? He had talked of using AB with him for a high/low offense, but it never materialized for more than a few minutes, total.

He had players to run a high post this year, but NEVER made any attempt to put it in. I can understand why to a certain point, and I wouldn’t even encourage it myself, so that isn’t an issue for me. It just isn’t true that he would ever want to do it, though. Its not his game.

Your stats from the playoffs would suggest that even Nellie had to put more than one big in the game to stay competitive in the face of playoff style basketball. They also suggest that Dirk WAS out there by himself part of the time, and, as Oracle and I have stated, Dirk is only a “big” in the world of small ball. Otherwise, he is just a very tall small forward. Its just a bonus that he is tall. I didn’t follow the Mavs much that year and I don’t have time to look up all the games, but the big knock on them until Avery Johnson took over, was their lack of defense. Sound familiar?

I think Nellie has played more than 1 big many times in his career, its just getting worse now. Part of that came from his disdain for the players we had on the bench this year. He put many games in jeopardy with that strategy, losing a few to teams that didn’t even have starters as good as our bench, but even their subs could score at will when we had AH and the smurfs on the court. AB rescued several of those games all by himself and went right back to the bench. See a pattern here?

He also doesn’t seem to get that playing bigs who don’t fill his offensive needs can be a positive factor in terms of defense. Point differential isn’t just about scoring points. The fact is, if all you need is to stay in the game while your best are resting, you don’t even need to score much if you can play defense. But we had people come off the bench who could do neither, let alone both.

What hurts the most is his disdain for defense, not rookies.

These are his choices, and if he can win with them, at the highest level needed, great. If not, he should move on to something else. That has not been the case here, either time.

Pbob20

Oracle

Technically, Nelson has never had a classic 7 post player capable of scoring 20 points, other than Webber who got 18 as a rookie. Yet he has given the classic 7′ post players he did have (Listor, Dampier) all significant PT (20+ min/game seasons). Plus the other 7 footers (Dirk, LaFrentz, Bradley, etc) you don’t count.

Do you criticize Stu Jackson for only having one low post player in his history to ave 20. Sometimes you get to coach a HOFer like Shaq. Just like Ewing I think DN could of coached Shaq to 20 PPG.

Lets see what DN does this next year.

Chris Cohan

Nellie avoids “classic” or “traditional” big man play like the plague. There’s just no way around it. That’s whay we spent weeks debating whether or not to call it Small Ball, Nellie Ball, Stupid Ball, Stupid Nellie Small Ball, Gimmick Ball, or something the filter would catch. This is Don Nelson.

Morons.

Pbob20

Tired

1 Who had the height, passing skills, and mid range shot, to run a good high post O thru?

If next year AB can hit the mid range shot and play better facing the basket, maybe, and likewise BW if he improves, but last year – NO WAY. Don’t make me laugh with POB either.

2 I would say your frustations listed above weren’t pure Nelson transgressions, but instead disparities between your opinion of their talents and their actual talent.

Between AH’s limitations, BW being 19, POB being portrayed as unfocused/inconsistent(by others than DN), and AB admitting he was exhausted for the middle half of the season due to year round play – I just don’t get why this years big man rotation was that big of a surprise or such an indictment on Nellie (separating out the general disdain for Small Ball). I wish somethings were different, but I get the shortcomings of the talent too.

I may be wrong, but if AB shows the same improvement as last year and BW matures as he should, I think DN will surpise you in how he utilizes their talents (if there).

The Oracle

It goes beyond coincidence or bad luck that Nelson has never had a traditional power post players score 20 ppg in 30 years.

Look at his lack of interest in POB. In Kosta. In BW.

Look at the fact that he wanted to trade Ewing the first chance he got, the only traditional center he ever had.

Look at what happened with Webber the first time time around, when Nelson took a natural PF and tried to turn him into a Center for his one big offense.

Look at both the lack of PT and the lack of plays run for AB this past season, despite his league leading conversion ratio. You don’t think in a different system that valued feeding the center he couldn’t have scored 20 points many more times than he did?

Is it a coincidence that we couldn’t swing a deal for Garnett? Or Gasol? The players know what Nelson wants, and the bigs that have a choice want no part of it.

I think there is plenty of evidence to support the one to zero big Nelson system. Certainly since he’s been here you can see it. Tired, I disagree he has played plenty of 2 big formations. Unless you consider an AH type player at 6’8″ a big.

He doesn’t want bigs, more than one. He won’t develop them if they are young of give them PT. If he gets a decent PF, he wants him to play center as the one and only big. If he gets a decent SF, he wants him to play PF (AH, MP). He trades bigs for up tempo running, ball handling, outside shooting, and pressing defense. That’s the bargain. That’s his deal, his system.

And it’s not a bad system for winning games at a good rate. Not a championship system imo, but he has proven that he can win 50-60% of his games in any given year with the right small line up and his system. It’s a playoff caliber system. Not a championship system. That’s also been proven over time.

Efren

#75

‘And it’s not a bad system for winning games at a good rate. Not a championship system imo,’…in essence , Don Nelson is NOT the coach who could bring us to that ultimate prize.

monsta

Wow, a lot of speculation over not much. The pbob post nailed it, it’s about the available talent, and there wasn’t a ton of extra talent last year. No MB, no AC, Pietrus streaky, Azu hurt, the only valid point/dead horse is Wright. Yeah, Wright should’ve played more. And he will, next year. Alongside AB, alongside everyone, it’s called working him into the rotation, even though DN took way too long to work him in.

But Nelson’s not an idiot. Not a genius, too arrogant to take a full breath, but not an idiot. He can see talent. That’s why he leaned so hard on Baron, SJ, ME, they’re his big talents.

I think Nelson thought he’d win enough to get into the playoffs and then rest his players the last week or so, cuz the W’s were in the 4th, 5th, 6th spot for so long. Didn’t work out, eh?

I can’t imagine Nelson not playing his talent this year, and that’s more AB, more ME, more BW. Might see a few less SJ and BD minutes. Together, apart, mixed and matched, I just can’t imagine NOT seeing AB and BW on the floor together.

And I know class is in session. And sit down and learn. But really: Are you serious?

monsta

From the SFChron site, straight from the beaten horse’s mouth:

Though he assumes that Baron Davis and the rest of the Warriors’ core will be back, Nelson also admits that the new season will indeed bring a new philosophy. Youngsters Brandan Wright and Marco Belinelli, who rarely played during their rookie year, have already begun working out in Oakland again, and Nelson insists they will be worked into the rotation.

“Last year, we were very single-minded in trying to make the playoffs. It’s what the organization wanted to do, to make the playoffs again, and we tried to do that and we failed,” he said. “Part of my job next year is to bring these guys along, and if it costs us some games, which it probably will, then that’s what I’ll do.

“I’ll have to prepare myself mentally for that, but I think it’s the right thing to do. They’re the future of the team.”

Son of Ahmed

Entertaining stuff.

Kool-aid drinkers like George “Nelliefan” Romero keep resurrecting the dead horse. We’re all happy to beat it back down. The return of the Emperor will usher in legions of dead horses. Break out the clubs, boys!

Oracle, Tired, Andrew, CC,

What’s another name for a “high post center” in Nellie’s system?

A guard.

((((( rim shot )))))

If the player stationed on the outskirts of the three point line is a power forward, what do you call the guard in Nellie’s system?

An outfielder.

((((( rim shot )))))

A power forward is to Nellie ball what an oompa loompa is to cherry picking. Better get a ladder.

((((( rim shot )))))

Son of Ahmed

Monsta #78,
The “speculation” is based on track record. A leopard doesn’t change its spots. Remember the words, “Baron Davis will play no more than 30 minutes a night.”

But they also say, “Past performance does not guarantee future results.”

I hope that Nellie is true to his word this time. And I hope that BW’s promised minutes don’t come at the expense of AB’s minutes.

If AB and Marco can get quality minutes this season and AB and ME are signed, then the team is already deeper than last season’s team. That would quell quite a bit of the discontent on this board.

The Oracle

So was POB a wasted #9 pick?
Kosta?
Bellineli?
CJ a bad pick up?

MP didn’t get PT was he was healthy if you recall and complained about it.

Barnes struggled, but not worthy of back up minutes?

AZ sat also when healthy at times.

AH’s minutes and role were sketchy.

In fact, only BD, Monta, and SJ had consistent roles and consistent minutes out of 15 guys.

It wasn’t just BW that didn’t get PT.

There was a general fear of playing 12 out of 15 players, even with a 20 point lead.

Overplaying 3 guys isn’t a great strategy for making it to the playoffs in an uptempo system.

The team will be more of a team, and the team will play better next season, if Nelson does committ to bringing his bench along. This strategy that he feels will cost us a few games is actually the best chance we really have to make the playoffs.

10+ rotation. 48 minutes of fury. Getting everyone involved. A complete team effort, not 3 guys. That’s the ticket to the playoffs imo.

Get ready to hear I told you so from the horse beaters when the youngsters play and the team plays better, and when we’re not out of gas at the end of the season.

#78. If true and it happens, we will be better not worse. Watch and learn.

Chris Cohan

Monsta of its meds = Nelliefan and Petaluman’s lovechild

Nellie, the great equivocator!

Son of Ahmed

CC,
Equivocator? Notice how he puts the onus on “the organization.” None of last year was his fault.

Tired

#72
Pbob,
I don’t care if a big (7′) center gets 20 or 2 points a game if he does his job. That isn’t the point. Much better stats would be playing time, along with rebounds and blocked shots, etc. The way to judge a true center is NOT by points alone. It is meaningless. That is why we watch and see what is going on during the game.

#74
OK, I will admit to a little exaggeration about having the right guys to run a real high post, but the fact is Nellie had more big men on his roster than he had for most of his teams, and on opening day they were not included in the plans for the team. He could have used them in many situations over the course of the season.

As for my overrating their talents, no. I never said they should be starting or even playing a lot of minutes. (I’m not a POB fan.) They weren’t even prepared by the coaching staff to play 5 minutes a game, which would have made a big difference. Thats it. Nothing more, nothing less. Don’t try to sign me up for anything else.

You just don’t get it. He will NEVER run the high post system, regardless of how much they “improve.” A good coach gets the most out of the people they have and utilizes their talents, not just try to fit them into a mold. He did that to a certain extent with AB, perhaps by accident, by not asking much of him and letting him do what he could. And the chosen few got to do whatever they wanted.

BW is not a center. He will never be a center, for anyone. He wasn’t drafted as a center (OK, upon further reflection before I posted this, I must say that maybe he WAS drafted as a center. After all this is the Small Ball parallel universe.) He was supposed to be the PF of the future- Nellie style. He may end up as a 3 after Nellie, who knows. He has game. The idea is to utilize it, not stifle it.

The idea of BW playing center makes me ill, and mad.

#80
SonofAhmed

Thanks for the shout out and the fun! 😉

#78
Monsta
How interesting. Thanks for the quotes. Well, now we can quit speculating. Thats a relief.

Another relief: Nellie fesses up to “The Plan.” The plan that did not include bringing along the younger players, just making the playoffs. The suicide run WAS just that, whoever was actually responsible, which is still unclear at best. Too bad, they could have done BOTH.

But now Nellie now has permission, or shall we say a directive, to develop the youngsters. He may some lose games because of it. It won’t be his fault. He may even enjoy it. There is a certain freedom in low expectations, especially for a lame duck. I am much more positive about next year now.

Did he learn something? Who knows. It wasn’t his idea, right?

I’m glad it turned out this way. Everybody is happy and life goes on. Anything can happen now and nobody gets the blame. I’m not big into blame regardless of what some of you may think. But some here are very afraid of being wrong, having Nellie take any blame or what we will say when it turns out we were right all along. Nellie has cleared the air and the world is still turning. We are all still friends.

So for all of you who were so worried what some of us might say upon hearing these very words from Nellie, I can only say, “I told you so!!!”

Chill.

Devil’s Advocate

Tired,

The good news is that Nellie might hang around for a few more years to drive you even more crazy! I’ll be standing by to enjoy the whole show.

Devil’s Advocate

It’s kind of crazy how Nelliefan is so right about so much. Who is that masked man?

Devil’s Advocate

# 84
Tired Says:
June 2nd, 2008 at 11:51 pm

“Another relief: Nellie fesses up to “The Plan.” The plan that did not include bringing along the younger players, just making the playoffs.”

I don’t know where you’ve been but Nellie has spoken about said plan for a long time. You might want to visit KNBR website for interviews with DN.

He said that he didn’t think the younger players were ready and he didn’t want to risk losing games. It was all about the playoff push. Then, after they won so many games he would be able to kick back and rest his starters at the end of the season in preparation for the playoffs. In a crazy year it wasn’t enough games and there was no time for rest. We all know what happened. Right or wrong, he got the most out of this group that he could.

I hope that we add a good piece or two to this team. Players who can already play. I’m really not sure about this Brandon Wright guy. I want to be wrong but I’m just not sure about him.

mikey66

Tired,
I usually try to avoid this stuff because I think its boring for the most part, but once in a while I’ll give it a try.

You do realize the truth of #87 regarding Nellie’s statements, right.
I often wonder, given the comments that are posted sometimes, whether or not people actually listen/read what is said.

Nellie (and Mullin) consistently said, starting with his (Mullin’s) draft night interview on KNBR, continuing in July (DN interview on NBA TV) in Vegas, that BW would not play much in his 1st year.
In fact, according to Milwaukee’s GM, BW would have gone higher in the draft if could have made more of an impact in his first year.

Last summer, I specifically remember SOA and others predicting BW making an impact. There were absolutely no indications to support that thinking.
Nellie has also said consistently that BW would play more next year, which leads to me wonder, why is anyone surprised?

mikey66

Devil,

I say no chance Nelliefan stays away until October, like he’s promising. Every time another piece of the plan falls into place, he’s going to resurface. His numbers are accurate.

mikey66

One last thing…I did say after going to the Portland game and watching Barnes miss like 16 3s in a row warming up, and then getting lucky and making two in a row during the game, that it would be a mistake if Nellie put him back in the rotation ahead of BW. He did, which was a mistake, so i’m not part of the Nellie’s infallible crowd.

Chris Cohan

Mikey, wrong thread. Bring your party line BS to the new one for sound thrashing now that the crowd is interested again.

Tired

Hey for any of you fools who are still commenting on my last post:

Gotcha!!!

Amazing how you just don’t get it. Can’t read, either.

The Oracle

Devils advocate is Nelliefan.

Mike in N. Oakland

Some news media is reporting Dumar saying that big changes will be made means Rasheed Wallace will be moved. That would be the perfect fit for Nelly. Biedrins would probably have to go and a couple of other young stars, but might as well go for it now.

Gwydion

That’s just stupid. If you move Biedrins to get Wallace, you’re going to be playing Wallace at center

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